Fears of a major slump in the previously buoyant video games market have been realized by a trading update from market leader Game Group. The highly cyclical nature of the sector has been highlighted by the dual release of Game's figures for the 53 weeks to January 31, 2009, in which total UK and Ireland sales were up 25.7%, and for the 11 weeks to April 18, 2009, in which they were down 2.4%.